Scottish Executive

Health

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-986 by Malcolm Chisholm on 15 July 2003, of the 17,600 people with dementia presented to their GP in 2002, how many were under 65.

Malcolm Chisholm: Of the estimated 17,600 people with dementia presented to their GP in 2002, 780 were under 65 years of age.

Health

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what training is given to medical professionals in respect of the diagnosis of dementia.

Malcolm Chisholm: At present, general practitioners are expected to identify their own personal learning needs to better provide for the health needs of their patients and to seek training accordingly. Guidance and assistance is available to GPs from NHS Education for Scotland (NES) via the postgraduate directors of general practice education.

  Training for hospital doctors in the diagnosis and treatment of dementia, is currently delivered through continuous professional development programmes, which are organised and approved by the medical Royal Colleges. Guidance and assistance is available to hospital doctors from NES via the postgraduate deans and tutors.

Hospitals

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual income of the Golden Jubilee Hospital is from "marginal hotel" charges made to NHS trusts that send patients to the hospital for cardiac surgery.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Golden Jubilee National Hospital has charged all relevant NHS boards for activity it has performed since 1 July 2003. The plan for the current financial year shows an anticipated income of approximately £464,000, based on an average cost of £3,000 per cardiac procedure, for the nine months from 1 July 2003 to 31 March 2004. This assumes 156 procedures are performed for NHSScotland in that period.

Maternity Services

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take, and what resources it will make available, to ensure that women in labour do not experience unreasonably long transfer times from midwife-led to consultant-led units.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive, in line with the recommendations of the Expert Group on Acute Maternity Services (EGAMS), recognises that it is important to plan in advance where a woman should deliver. This will take into account previous and current pregnancy, medical history, locally available services, likely outcomes and transport arrangements, including travel time to a specialist unit.

  EGAMS recommends that boards should develop and implement protocols and guidance related to risk assessment. These protocols should minimise incidence of transfer between community maternity units and consultant led units.

  To ensure that transport issues continue to be considered fully in policy and planning, the Scottish Ambulance Service contribute to the Scottish Executive’s National Maternity Services Workforce Planning Group. This group will look at resource implication within maternity services as part of its remit.

Nutrition

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to improve the standard of infant nutrition.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive supports many initiatives that promote the improvement of infant nutrition. These include the Starting Well health demonstration project, the Scottish Community Diet Project and the Scottish Healthy Choice Awards Scheme.

  In 2003, NHS Health Scotland produced Adventures in Foodland, a nutrition information pack for child carers that has been widely distributed around Scotland. NHS Health Scotland are also planning to develop new materials on weaning during 2004-05.

  Improving breastfeeding rates is also recognised as one of the keys to improving infant nutrition in Scotland. As such I refer the member to the answers given to questions S2W-5498 and S2W-5500 on 26 January 2004 for further information about breastfeeding support and funding by the Executive. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Nutrition

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been allocated for the improvement of infant nutrition over the next three years.

Malcolm Chisholm: As detailed in my response to S2W-5953 on 25 February 2004, the Executive supports many initiatives that promote the improvement of infant nutrition. Most of these initiatives take a holistic approach to child health and include the improvement of infant nutrition as one part of their overall aim. It is therefore not possible to separate out specific funding relating solely to the improvement of infant nutrition within these initiatives.

  NHS Health Scotland estimate that they will spend in the region of £500,000 on the improvement of infant nutrition in 2004-05. This will include breastfeeding research and promotion, and the production of weaning information. NHS Health Scotland are unable to supply estimates beyond 2004-05.

  The Executive will continue to fund the work of the Scottish Breastfeeding Group and the National Breastfeeding Advisor at a combined cost of £37,000 a year.

  The Welfare Food Scheme has an annual budget of £14 million in Scotland. This UK reserved scheme provides milk, infant formula and vitamins for those in receipt of certain social security benefits. It is currently being reformed so that it can offer a wider range of foods and support breastfeeding mothers on an equitable basis.